Awards and honors
 | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
| 1954–55 La Salle Explorers men's basketball | |
|---|---|
NCAA tournament, Runner-up | |
| Conference | Independent |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. 3 |
| AP | No. 3 |
| Record | 26–5 |
| Head coach |
|
Robert Ames, later a CIA official killed in the 1983 bombing of the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was a member of the 1954-55 Explorers. [1]
| | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
| Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 1 | 3 | Tom Gola | Philadelphia Warriors |
The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University (DLSU), Far Eastern University (FEU), National University (NU), University of the East (UE), University of the Philippines Diliman (UP), and the University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Joseph Washington "Jellybean" Bryant was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also played for several teams in Italy and one in France. Bryant was the head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks from 2005 to 2007 and returned to that position for the remainder of the 2011 WNBA season. Bryant also coached in Japan and Thailand. His son, basketball player Kobe Bryant, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
La Salle University is a private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle.
The Big 5 is an informal association of six college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship.
Rasual Butler was an American professional basketball player. In his 14-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career, he played for the Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs. Butler was born in Philadelphia, and raised in the Point Breeze area of South Philadelphia. After playing college basketball with the La Salle Explorers, he was drafted in the second round of the 2002 NBA draft by the Heat. On January 31, 2018, Butler was behind the wheel when he and his girlfriend, Leah LaBelle, died in a single vehicle car crash in Los Angeles.
Lionel James "L-Train" Simmons is an American former professional basketball player.
La Salle College High School is a Catholic, all-male college preparatory school located in Wyndmoor, a community in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. La Salle is within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and is located roughly 10 miles northwest of Center City. The school is staffed by a lay faculty and the Christian Brothers. Its sports teams compete in the Philadelphia Catholic League and the PIAA’s twelfth district.
William Joseph Burns is an American diplomat and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Biden administration since March 19, 2021. He previously served as U.S. deputy secretary of state from 2011 to 2014; in 2009 he served as acting secretary of state for a day, prior to the confirmation of Hillary Clinton. Burns retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a 32-year career. From 2014 to 2021, he served as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The De La Salle Green Archers and Lady Archers are the varsity teams representing De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, among other leagues. The "Green Archer" is the traditional university mascot. While the university's teams are collectively referred to as the Green Archers and Lady Archers, each team carries a specific moniker that references the sport that they play. At the high school level, the university is represented by De La Salle Zobel's varsity program called the Zobel Junior Archers and Lady Junior Archers.
Ralph Adolphus Lewis is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6'6" (198 cm) 200 lb (91 kg) guard and attended La Salle University.
The school rivalry between Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University began when both educational institutions participated in the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the Philippines (NCAA) and has carried over to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) where both universities compete in currently.
The rivalry between the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers is contested at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). Although the men's basketball rivalry had died down after the 1990s, it returned in 2013 as both schools again met in the UAAP basketball championship series. The rivalry had also been apparent in women's volleyball where the two teams are frequent finalists in the UAAP Volleyball Championship and the Shakey's V-League.
The 1953–54 La Salle Explorers men's basketball team represented La Salle University in the 1953–54 NCAA men's basketball season. The team's head coach was Ken Loeffler. La Salle won the 1954 NCAA basketball tournament.
Robert Clayton Ames was an operations officer and Near East specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency. He was killed in the 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut.
Marco Januz "Juno" Sauler is a basketball coach and former basketball player from the Philippines. He was a former head coach of the De La Salle University Green Archers, a collegiate team in the UAAP. Sauler is currently part of coaching staff of the Magnolia Hotshots in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Tyrone W. Garland, nicknamed South West Philly Floater, is an American former basketball player. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he joined the Mississauga Power midway in the 2014–15 season, a few months after completing his senior year at La Salle University. He had several impactful performances with Mississauga in his rookie season and was awarded several starts. Garland primarily plays the point guard position, but is known as an all-around guard.
The 2017–18 La Salle Explorers basketball team represented La Salle University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Explorers, led by 14th-year head coach John Giannini, played their home games at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. They finished the season 13–19, 7–11 in A-10 play to finish in a three-way tie for 10th place. As the No. 12 seed in the A-10 tournament, they lost in the first round to Massachusetts.
David Cochran Miller is an American college baseball coach and former first baseman who will be in his second tenure as head baseball coach of the La Salle Explorers starting in 2026. He previously served as the head coach for La Salle from 2018 until 2021 and the Penn State Abington Nittany Lions (2022). He then served as head coach at Manhattan from 2023–2024.
Tyrell Nate Terry is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal.
The 1954–55 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1954, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1955 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 19, 1955, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The San Francisco Dons won their first NCAA national championship with a 77–63 victory over the La Salle Explorers.